And I Do Appreciate You Being 'Round
by SVZ
Summary: Or Five Times Kurt Helped Members of New Directions from Dalton  And One Time New Directions Returned the Favor By Giving Him a Little Push . Kurt/Blaine, Tina/Mike, ensemble fic.  Spoilers/speculations through "A Very Glee Christmas".


_**[Glee]And I Do Appreciate You Being 'Round [Kurt/Blaine, ensemble]**_  
**Title:** And I Do Appreciate You Being 'Round  
**Author:** SVZ  
**Pairing:** Kurt/Blaine, Tina/Mike, most of the glee ensemble  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Word Count:** 5500  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Glee.  
**Spoilers/Warnings:** Up to 2x10 (spoilers for a scene in "A Very Glee Christmas") .  
**Summary:** Alternate title "Five Times Kurt Helped Members of New Directions from Dalton (And One Time New Directions Returned the Favor By Giving Him a Little Push)".  
**Notes: **Unbeta'd, written because I really like friendship!ensemble!fic. ...I also totally play favorites.

Also, sorry for the weird formatting with the mails - it doesn't show up well on Fanfiction dot net.

**And I Do Appreciate You Being 'Round** or **Five Times Kurt Helped Members of New Directions from Dalton (And One Time New Directions Returned the Favor By Giving Him a Little Push)**

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* * *

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**1.** (brittany)

"Things between Santana and me have been weird," Brittany says over her coffee and vanilla cupcake, in lieu of an actual rational explanation for her sudden appearance at Dalton. "So I can't ask her. Since you were my ex-boyfriend, I thought you would know what I should do."

She sounds so sad about the situation and so earnest in her belief that he could help that Kurt doesn't have to heart to turn her down.

Especially not when she had driven nearly two hours - during the first snowfall of the season nonetheless - to see him.

("You could have called, Brittany."

"I didn't have your number. I thought seeing you in person was the next best thing.")

But he's pretty sure that this breaches some sort of weird unspoken social etiquette.

Not that he thinks that there's an actual precedent set since he and Brittany dated under some pretty extenuating circumstances. Operation 'Giving Being Heterosexual a Try' had been a disaster. It ended quickly if supremely awkwardly, not long after his heart-to-heart with his dad in the auditorium.

Thankfully, Brittany had taken the break-up well.

_Really_ well.

(He's totally not passing judgment on her. After all, he's a huge Madonna fan; he's all for sexual freedom and female empowerment. Brittany's just exercising her right as a woman to be who she wants to be, but it just makes him… wonder.)

Still, he kind of owes her. When he first joined the Cheerios, Brittany coached him on roundoffs and back walkovers until Coach Sylvester deemed them acceptable. It had taken hours outside of practice and Brittany hadn't complained.

Taking a deep breath, Kurt sets his coffee down on the table.

"Well Brittany," he says slowly. He tries hard not to focus on how he's completely unqualified for giving anyone relationship advice. "Maybe you should talk to Artie about this. He might just be passive when you two are being intimate because he has had, um, less experience than you. Or he might not be comfortable with how fast things are going between the two of you – "

Brittany shakes her head. "That can't be right, we already had sex!"

Her voice isn't loud per se, but the coffee shop they're in is nearly empty, and it's definitely loud enough to catch the attention of the group of Dalton students studying at a table nearby.

Kurt inwardly groans when familiar heads swivel around. It takes a lot of self control to resist the urge to sink into his chair.

He so did not sign up for this.

"I don't understand," Brittany continues. "If this is about sex – "

Jeff and Alex from the Warblers are definitely not paying attention to their physics textbooks.

Kurt can practically see them attempting to gauge his current situation and their internal thought process.

It's probably something along the lines of _Kurt is sitting with a pretty girl, she's wearing his coat, but that's okay because Kurt's really gay and holy crap this chick is talking about sex is she single and can I please have her number?_

" – I'm not sure why Artie's being this way though," Brittany is saying, still looking confused and sad.

It's like the time they served steamed broccoli in the cafeteria. It had taken Santana and Quinn five minutes to reassure her that gummy bears also lived in cauliflower heads, and since no one liked cauliflower, the gummy bears were safe.

She continues, "It's not like he was bad, he wasn't amazing, but he could get better with practice. And when I tried asking Tina about it, she gave me this look and didn't answer. Maybe he _is_ part robot."

"… I'm just going to repeat what I said before and suggest you talk to Artie about this." Kurt wonders if it's possible for him to forget the last five minutes of this conversation, or the entire conversation altogether. "Also, Britt, TMI."

"I guess I can ask him if he has a different setting." Sighing, Brittany drains the last of her coffee. "It's kind of awesome having a robot boyfriend."

From over Brittany's shoulder, he can see Jeff's face fall at the news that Brittany's attached.

Alex looks similarly disappointed, but also a little confused. Kurt sees him mouth 'robot?' at his friend.

Kurt wonders if he'll get accosted later for an explanation.

"I should get going." Britt makes a motion to shrug off his coat, but Kurt stops her.

"I'll walk you to your car," he insists. He eyes the weather outside; it's only a light dusting of snow but it's been accumulating for the better part of the hour. "Will you be able to get back to Lima all right like this?"

"Oh it's fine." Brittany smiles at him. For the first time during their entire conversation, she looked more like her cheerful if not absent-minded self. "I drove here from my motocross practice."

She points to a McKinley color scheme motorbike outside.

Granted, it's covered in a decent layer of snow but Kurt is pretty sure he can make out multicolored streamers attached to the handlebars.

"… Yeah, let me walk you out."

**2.** (rachel)

**Rachel (7:55):** Kurt, now that we are on much better terms that we had been in the past, I hope you can help me.

**Rachel (7:56):**I don't know if he told you what happened… but I screwed things up with Finn.

**Rachel (7:56):** I was stupid and I'm really sorry. It was a mistake.

**Rachel (7:57):** He broke up with me. He won't talk to me, he refuses to answer my texts, and he won't accept my "I'm Sorry" cookies. :(

**Rachel (7:57):** Jacob ambushed me on my way to practice today. After he tried to kiss me, he said he saw Finn hanging out with Santana.

**Rachel (7:58):** What should I do?

**Rachel (7:58):**I think I should express my inner turmoil and bad decision-making through song during glee practice tomorrow.

**Rachel(7: 59):** Do you have any song recommendations?

**Rachel (8:00):** I was thinking of serenading him with a heartfelt rendition of One Republic's "Apologize".

**Rachel (8:02):** THOUGHTS?

**Kurt(8:20):** um i'm pretty sure you missed the point of 'apologize'. google the lyrics.

**Kurt(8: 23):** finn likes air supply, maybe 'all out of love'?

**Kurt(8:25):** also next time just call me. or… email.

**3.** (sam)

**Sam Evans:** is thinking of dying his hair red.  
26 minutes ago• Comment • Like  
Finn Hudson likes this.  
**Kurt Hummel:** NO. Trust me on this. It won't go with your skin tone AT ALL. Stick with bleach.  
Mercedes Jones, Tina Cohen-Chang, Brittany S. Pierce, and two others like this.  
**Sam Evans:** is not going to dye his hair red after all! fyeah star wars marathonnn twonite!  
10 minutes ago• Comment • Like  
Finn Hudson and four people like this.  
**Quinn Fabray: **… this is the 'prior engagement' you had? ANSWER YOUR PHONE.  
Kurt Hummel and Finn Hudson like this.

**4.** (tina)

Tina calls at ten in the morning the week after Sectionals on a Saturday.

It takes him a several rings before he manages to extract his phone from the inside pocket of his Marc Jacobs messenger bag.

"Tina?"

"Kurt, I need your help." Tina's panicked voice immediately puts him on alert.

Cradling his iPhone to his ear, Kurt distractedly shoves his Moleskine planner into his bag and sits down in one of the armchairs. He pulls out his Macbook out of its protective sleeve and opens up a new tab to Facebook. He figures that if it's something really serious – it'll probably be there.

"What's wrong?" he asks. He quickly scans his homepage and searches for Tina's name. Her last status seemed normal enough ("Tina Cohen-Chang does not like group presentation projects"). Tina and Mike are still listed as being in a relationship, but of course, that didn't mean anything. "Did something bad happen between you and Mike?"

He genuinely hopes not.

Even with the Artie/Tina break up, Tina and Mike had the most normal relationship out of everyone in New Directions.

They almost gave him hope that not all relationships are doomed to end in tears, poor life choices, and baby drama.

"What?" Tina sounds surprised by his question. "Oh, no. Things between Mike and me have been great." She pauses for a moment. "Actually, I called because I have a hair emergency."

Kurt lets out a breath and rolls his eyes in annoyance. "Tina, if you cut your bangs too short again, try a headband. Or a hat. Trust me, no one will notice."

Tina lets out a growl of frustration; says, "No, Rite Aid and all the drugstores in town stopped carrying the Redken All Smooth." She waits a moment for the words to sink in; for Kurt to remember that that particular line was her Holy Grail hair products. "I've checked all the ones in Lima and in a couple nearby towns. I'm not sure if it's discontinued or what, but I haven't washed my hair in two days."

"Ugh," Kurt mutters, wrinkling his nose.

Tina continues; Kurt can almost hear her rolling her eyes at him. "I dyed my hair completely black on Wednesday night. Mike's extended family's in town and they want to meet me." She adds, a little uneasily, "His grandparents are a little conservative."

"Did Mike put you put to that?" Kurt asks, furrowing his eyebrows, wondering if he'll need to have words with Tina's boyfriend. But he honestly can't imagine Mike asking Tina to change who she is; it's obvious to everyone that he adores her.

(He remembers snickering when Mercedes filled him in on the green room theatrics during Sectionals. Tina actually thought Mike and Brittany were having an affair - _please_. Tina had Mike wrapped around her little finger just by existing.)

"Oh no," Tina reassures him hastily, "It was my idea. His parents like me. But I don't want to show up with blue hair and give his grandparents and cousins a reason to dislike me. It's awkward enough to explain to them that I'm half-Jewish and Korean," she adds with a trace of wryness. "Not something I'm looking forward to, if they're as traditional Mike has suggested. So, the hair thing…"

"Ah." Even though he knows it's not going to work, he tries, "Well, maybe you can try a different brand – "

"Kurt," Tina stops him. "Think for a moment. Think about how long it took me to find a brand that would work with my hair. Think about my hair texture. Think about what my hair goes through on a daily basis. I change the streaks in my hair every two weeks. I own two flat irons and a curling iron. And I just dyed it. Remember that one time I forgot my shampoo for Quinn's sleepover and how that turned out?"

Kurt winces at the memory: Quinn's shampoo had left Tina's hair dry and tangled.

And when she borrowed Mercedes' hair products one time at school after getting slushied, her hair ended up rough and oily. It took a week of intensive moisturizing masks for her hair to get back to normal again.

Tina had good reason to be thrilled when she found her Holy Grail hair products after a lot of trial and error; Redken made her hair look amazing.

"What about Mike? Maybe you can borrow whatever he uses?" Kurt suggests. "I mean, you guys kind of have similar hair types, right?"

"Um," Tina says, sounding doubtful. "I think that most Asian guys are just naturally blessed with nice hair. I'm pretty sure they don't have to do anything."

"Hold on a sec." Kurt covers the mouthpiece of his iPhone. Wes is the only other student in the common room; the rest of the residents of the dorm are either at breakfast or sleeping in. The other Warbler is curled up in an armchair near the fireplace with his netbook. "Hey Wes, what kind of shampoo do you use?"

Wes, to his credit, only looks a little confused by Kurt's question. "Uh, whatever's on sale at Target?" He thinks for a moment, then nods. "I think the bottle might be green."

That's all the confirmation Kurt really needs.

"Thanks." Ignoring Wes politely bemused look, he turns his attention back to Tina. "I'm pretty sure you're right about that, but I'm not sure what you what me to do here."

He had already made a mental run-through of all the shampoo brands he has stashed in the cabinet his bathroom back home; Redken's not among them.

His hair tends not to act any differently toward cheap drugstore or expensive salon brands so he mostly stocks up on the former to save money for wardrobe splurges.

"Well," Tina says pleadingly. "You're the only person I know who would understand… and Finn told me you're coming back for the weekend and you live right by Columbus."

He already knows what's coming.

"And - I don't know, I thought maybe you could check to see if any of the stores in your area still carries them?" Tina asks hopefully. "Please?"

At his silence, she sighs. He can almost picture her sad expression over the phone. "I know this is stupid of me to freak out over shampoo and conditioner," she admits, "But I don't want to face Mike's relatives looking anything less than fantastic, you know?"

There are a dozen things she doesn't say out loud that Kurt already knows from reading in between the lines.

He knows that she's nervous - that while Mike's parents might like her, there's the possibility of his extended family won't feel the same way.

He knows that Tina's fixated on her hair because it's the one single thing she could control in her situation.

And the thing is – Kurt understands completely – because he's the same way. He also focuses on little things like appearance when he's nervous or upset. It's so much easier to worry about stuff he could possibly fix than think about the awkward dinner conversations that looms in the near future.

He sighs, rubbing his forehead. "I'll …see what I can do," he promises begrudgingly, already mentally calculating the detour he'll be making. There are a couple of Rite Aids and Walgreens in town, but he might try one of the salons if he's desperate. "But you should have a back up plan in case I can't find it. I should be back home by one, so you can drop by any time after that."

"I love you," Tina swears over the phone, eliciting a surprised laugh from him. "No, seriously. I'll pay you back."

"Figure out what you're going to wear," Kurt advises, "I'd recommend staying away from vampire Catholic schoolgirl outfit, although I think Mike would enjoy that."

Tina's resounding laugh makes him grin; he continues to double-check his things while listening to her babble about possible outfits for the family dinner.

**5.** (mike)

**From:** Mike C. [justdance at gmail dot com ]  
**To: **[khummel at daltonacademy dot org]  
**Date:** Sun, Dec 10, 2010 at 5:31 PM  
**Subject:** Advice?

Hey Kurt  
Thanks for helping Tina for the other day.

Got roped into cleaning and helping rents duty that day, sorry I couldn't help!

Everything was good – my grandparents liked her.

So thanks for going to three different drugstores to find that shampoo for her.

We miss you in glee. Mr. Schu is letting me and Britt help choreograph our Regionals number because we did well at Sectionals (even tho we only had three days to teach everyone . Britt and I want to mix things up but we don't know what to change and thought you could help. Sorry if this is weird because you're now our rival, but you were one of us first and you _were_ one of our best male dancers.

So, any thoughts on our Sectionals performances? :P

Mike

**From:** Kurt Hummel [khummel at daltonacademy dot org]  
**To:** Mike C. [justdance at gmail dot com]  
**Date:** Sun, Dec 10, 2010 at 7:55 PM  
**Subject:** RE: Advice

Hi Mike,

No problem.

Glad your family liked her even though she had to sacrifice some of her individuality and self-expression for the sake of not giving your grandmother a heart attack.

Somehow, I wasn't surprised to hear that you guys only had three days to rehearse (seriously?) – but good job on your performance! It brought the roof down.

My own advice to you guys as a friend (and not a rival): _stop doing the 'coming in through the audience from the back' _thing.

Seriously.

I'm having The Warblers lock the doors at Regionals. You've been forewarned.

P.S. I'm sure a million diehard Gaga fans are jealous of your gmail address. I approve.

**From:** Mike C. [justdance at gmail dot com]  
**To: **Kurt Hummel [khummel at daltonacademy dot org]  
**Date:** Mon, Dec 11, 2010 at 7:25 AM  
**Subject:** RE: Advice

Lol had this email before she became famous. ;)

Haha thanks bro.

Will try to convince Mr. Schu that it's getting old.

Good luck!

And BRING IT to Regionals!

**1.**(mercedes, tina, and rachel – the unholy trinity of busybodies, plus mike chang)

As much as he had grown to become fond of Dalton, Kurt lives for his Skype vidchats with his friends from New Directions.

It's hard - a lot harder than any of them had initially anticipated – to work around their different schedules. But it's completely worth it whenever he manages to catch his friends online.

Every time he talks to his former teammates, Kurt can feel the tension leaving his body. It's not as though he doesn't like his friends at Dalton; he does, but he always feels like he has to keep some of himself in check.

It's just _relaxing_ to let go whenever he's talking to Finn about sports of their parents (it's not like he particularly cares for the former; but it's nice seeing Finn being all enthusiastic) or catching up with Glee Club drama (because let's face it – there is _always_ some sort of shit going down at any given time) with Mercedes and Tina, or discussing dance choreography with Mike. It's even nice discussing current Broadway shows with Rachel – although she's sadly mistaken if she thinks that Next to Normal is overrated.

(Aaron Tveit is a demi-god, he will gladly eviscerate anyone who disagrees with him.)

None of them give him politely bewildered looks if he goes off on a mini-tirade or if he feels like humming along to the current song stuck in his head, tweaking the song so it's in his key. They understand his dark sense of humor and usually laugh when he spouts sarcastic one-liners.

It's… nice.

He misses them, misses the dynamic of New Directions – because even under all the chaos and crazy – they _got_ him in the way no one but Blaine does at Dalton.

And it's even with Blaine, it's sometimes hard to tell.

So it's nice to be reminded that his old team mates care, even if he's two hours away and they're competing against each other at Regionals.

Although, sometimes he feels like he's always having the same conversation with the same friends.

…It's getting a little old.

"Now tell me again why you're not dating Blaine," Mercedes asks one Friday night, the weekend before classes start in January.

"I've already told you," Kurt sighs, pulling his laptop closer to him on his bed, from the edge. He adjusts the webcam slightly, smiling fondly when he recognizes Mercedes' technicolored zebra print hoodie that he loves to hate. "I don't want to screw things up between the two of us. I swear, sometimes he's a different person when he's around the Warblers than when it's just us, and I'm not even sure he's interested in me." He gives Mercedes a wry smile with a trace of irony, "It's not like there's a rule that every gay guy is interested in another gay guy, you know."

"Uh huh," Mercedes agrees sweetly, "Just like how Anthony and I didn't hit it off because we're both black." She seems to take great pleasure in his uncomfortable squirm at the memory of his failed matchmaking plan because she flashes him a shit-eating grin. She continues, "But this is completely different – any fool can see that Blaine's completely interested in you."

"Have you been talking to Rachel? Or Finn? Or Tina?" Kurt cards a hand through his hair, sighing. "Because really – I've told you guys, I'm pretty sure he only thinks of me as a friend." Mostly sure, at any rate, he adds privately.

The look his best friend shoots him screams 'Boy, there is a little man with a cricket bat on your tie, your argument is therefore invalid'. "Babe, I can assure you that he is definitely interested," she says, shaking her head. "He was practically serenading you at Sectionals."

"It was a performance," Kurt protests. "I mean, it was an act. When we perform, we try to engage the audience."

"He was eye-fucking you," Mercedes retorts. "If you were a girl, you would have totally gotten pregnant."

"…_That doesn't even make sense._"

"Whatever, " Mercedes dismisses with a wave of the hand. The gesture is so reminiscent of Santana, that it kind of scares Kurt. Maybe in his absence, they've become good friends, especially now that Brittany and Artie are dating. He'll have to look into that later. "That doesn't even count the thing in the quiet study room where you guys sang the creepy date rape song before Christmas."

"In defense of Frank Loesser, when he had written the song, roofies hadn't been invented." Kurt rolls his eyes. "And he was just being nice, I had told him that I had never sang a duet with a guy before."

"Mhmm." Mercedes still looks unimpressed. "And Blaine just happened to convince the Warblers to let you join even without an audition. And then he gets you an audition for a solo even though you transferred mid-semester, the week before Sectionals?"

"There were special extenuating circumstances," Kurt says firmly. He decides to be kind and ignore Mercedes' inelegant snort at his answer. "I'm a counter-tenor. The Warblers didn't have any and they would have been insane if they hadn't jumped at the chance to let me join, especially since I've had experience performing at Regionals. I just filled a space that was vacant, it was all very fair." Sighing a little, he adds, "And it's not like the audition did me any good - I kind of got on the council's shit list for singing 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina'."

"That's because you auditioned for a Train solo with a song from freaking _Evita_."

He protests. "It's a great song! From an equally amazing musical!"

"Yeah, but you couldn't have sung something from Journey?" Mercedes is most definitely side-eyeing him via webcam. "Even 'Give up the Funk' would have been a better option."

At Kurt's cold silence, Mercedes sighs. "All right, moving along… I have another point to prove my case that Blaine likes you."

"…I'm listening."

"He helps you take care of Pavarotti!" Mercedes waits for his response, then after seeing him raise one expressive eyebrow, continues ranting, "Kurt, I have no doubt in my mind that Blaine has probably taken over your duties for taking care of your goddamn bird. Especially after I told him about the thing with the doves."

"I was totally joking about that glitter." It's true, especially after a quick google search told him that feeding them glitter would end badly. "And Blaine was the last guy to join Warbler last year; there were no new members this year. He had taken care of Pavarotti up until I came along. I bet he's just attached to Pavarotti."

Mercedes sighs. "All right, but that doesn't even cover your Facebook wall-to-walls. Speaking of which…" She peers at her laptop screen and grins. "Blaine just posted something, he wants you to meet him in the quiet study room ASAP."

"I feel like I should be offended that you're checking Facebook while we're talking," Kurt replies, but only laughs when Mercedes gives him a 'bitch, please – like you don't have four tabs open to Facebook and Perez Hilton right now' look.

She knows him too well.

Just as he's about to check his notifications himself, his iPhone's screen lights up. He reaches for his phone while his Facebook page loads.

**Blaine (8:18):** hey come down to quiet study room asap

Blaine's comment on his Facebook wall is identical to his text.

Kurt notes with mild amusement that Mercedes, Rachel, Tina, and Sam had already managed to 'like' Blaine's message even though it was less than five minutes old.

"You guys are a riot, you know that?"

Mercedes just sticks her tongue at him and waves him off. "Go see what your not-boyfriend wants! We can chat tomorrow morning."

"Blaine can wait," Kurt tries, but Mercedes already signs off. On Facebook, he sees another comment notification pop up from Rachel.

Apparently, his friends _really_ want him to go downstairs.

They are so strangely invested in his life at Dalton; it's actually a little disconcerting.

On his way down to the study room, he receives a few more texts – each more perplexing than the last.

**Finn (8:21):** dude let me know if u need me to break the news to burt

**Tina (8:23):** ur current fav Katy Perry song is last friday nite right?

**Brittany (8:24):** do ladyboy kisses taste like sweet lady kisses?

He's still trying to figure out Britt's text when he arrives at the study room.

Without even thinking, he pushes the wooden doors open, half-expecting to see Blaine with David or Wes or some of the Warblers taking advantage of their last few days of break before school starts up, but the room isn't filled with laughing teenage boys.

Instead, he sees Blaine, dressed in a white sweater and jeans, sitting by the baby grand piano, fiddling with the keys.

A weird sense of déjà vu washes over him. The last time it had been the two of them, there had been that duet.

"Blaine?" Kurt clears his throat, then holds up his cell phone. "I got your text."

He feels a little foolish – of course he got Blaine's text, otherwise he wouldn't be here, but Blaine either doesn't seem to notice or he's too polite to point that out.

Instead, he just smiles warmly at him (and Kurt's stomach most definitely did not lurch at the sight) and beckons him over.

"So, I have a song I want to suggest to the Council and I need a second opinion." Blaine scoots over on the piano bench to make room, but Kurt opts to take a seat in one of the comfortable leather couches.

For a second, Blaine looks almost disappointed – but the moment passes, and Kurt thinks that he might have just imagined it.

"This is a little rough," Blaine admits, almost nervously. "I had to come up with my own arrangement. It'll be different, since there will be a disparity between a female voice and a male voice…"

"Blaine," Kurt interrupts, before Blaine could go off on. "Just play." He smiles encouragingly. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

It's not until Blaine gets through the first verse that Tina's text message flashes through his head and Kurt finally recognizes the song Blaine's singing as the piano arrangement of "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)".

He knows all the lyrics, but Blaine's singing - _crooning_ the words while playing, and Kurt feels like he's too lost in the sound of the slightly off-key piano and the cadence of Blaine's voice for the words to register properly.

The song shouldn't be able to work in a piano arrangement, but Blaine somehow makes it sound less than ridiculous, he makes it sounds good, _excellent_, even. It's reminiscent of the time he managed to pull off singing "Teenage Dream" in the senior commons.

When Blaine finishes the song – it takes Kurt a few moments to realize that he's been openly staring, and he's probably wearing what Mercedes had dubbed his 'lovestruck' expression.

He ducks his head, waiting for Blaine to call him out on it – but Blaine doesn't stay anything. Kurt can hear Blaine closing the lid of the piano, but he doesn't say a single word.

It's like he's waiting.

"Blaine." Kurt swallows, he wants to look up – but he can't. If it's just a joke, if he's misreading all the signs (it'll be like Sam all over again, only with even more awkward), he'll screw everything up again and he can't afford to. He continues staring at his hands - it's just safer that way. "Just – what exactly are you – "

The couch dips a little when Blaine sits next to him. Kurt's brain doesn't have the time to register the fact that Blaine's _there_ because his face is being cupped and Blaine's suddenly only inches away, his amazing warm hazel eyes staring.

And there's no way he could be misreading Blaine's current expression.

"Kurt," he murmurs, voice low and husky. His fingers are tracing Kurt's jawline in an entirely non-platonic manner.

He lets out a shaky breath. "Did you just serenade me with a Katy Perry song?" Kurt pauses then adds, "_Again?_"

Blaine chuckles, almost as shaky as his. "Well, one of your friends told me you liked Katy Perry. And since it sort of worked the first time…"

And that's when Kurt grabs him and crashes their lips together.

Blaine holds still for a second, as though he's caught by surprise, but then he grins against Kurt's mouth and tips his head. He cups the back of Kurt's neck, making a sound low in his throat that only encourages Kurt to push Blaine into the couch so their bodies are flush against one another.

Kissing Blaine is completely different from kissing Brittany; this time, he doesn't worry about where to put his hands. One is already fisted in Blaine's hair while the other is curling into the hem of Blaine's soft sweater. Blaine's lips are slightly chapped (because he may be gorgeous, this still reminds Kurt that the boy's still human), he can feel the scrape of Blaine's stubble when their mouths are pressed together.

Blaine is almost painstakingly polite when his tongue first traces Kurt's mouth. He practically has to shoves his own tongue down Blaine's throat to get the other boy to _stop being such a fucking gentleman_ about it.

When they finally pull apart, Kurt has 13 unanswered texts and two missed calls because, oops, he somehow managed to set his phone to vibrate _while they were making out_.

**Artie (8:35):** um ignore britts text i explained to her that ladyboys=/= gay guys

**Mike (8:42):** Lol Tina says you're not picking up. Assuming that's a good thing. PHONE FIVE

**Mercedes (9:04):** not 2 say i told u so… but i told u so ;)

**Rachel (9:10):** Kurt, I'm so excited for you! :) :) :) Tell Blaine 'you're welcome' from me! How about we double-date? I have reservations at Breadstix for V-day! LET ME KNOW.

"My friends are kind of insane," Kurt mumbles, shoving his phone back into his pocket. He rests his head against Blaine's comfortable shoulder. "I can't believe that they orchestrated this."

"I was the one who approached Mercedes for help after Sectionals. She then got everyone else involved... and they just sort of ran with it by trying to talk to you about dating me," Blaine admits. "It just took a while, since you were being so thick about it, and I kept waiting for you to make your move." Then he grins, "And in case you hadn't figured it out – I wasn't really going to suggest we do this song at Regionals."

Kurt makes a 'hmmm' sound into Blaine's shoulder. "Oh, I don't know… you're kind of obvious about your straight crush on her."

"Two words: Lady Gaga."

"Shut up."

Blaine's eyes are laughing at him. "Make me," he challenges, smirking a little.

That line (and Blaine's entire delivery) is so lame and cliché that Kurt almost groans.

But he's not disappointed when he finally manages to get Blaine to stop talking by putting his mouth to a much better use.

* * *

The tie Kurt's wearing, the one with the man holding a cricket bat, is from "Mash Up" and it is amazing. Mercedes' hoodie is the only that Kurt criticizes her for wearing in "Showmance". I like my old-school S1 references.

Reviews and feedback much appreciated! Thanks guys. (This is what I wrote instead of my final paper, oops.)


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